News archive 2005

December

12/12/2005 – PSE releases gPROMS rate-based distillation Advanced Model Library [press release]

PSE today released the Advanced Model Library for Gas-Liquid Contactors (AML:GLC), an "open-model" library of high-fidelity, non-equilibrium component models for gas-liquid separation.

November

18/11/2005 – gPROMS version 2.3.7 now available

Process Systems Enterprise is pleased to announce the release of gPROMS v2.3.7, which contains a number of speed and robustness enhancements, usability improvements and bug fixes.

In keeping with PSE's commitment to maintain gPROMS' position as the leading Advanced Process Modelling (APM) package, there have been a number of enhancements to the underlying numerical solvers. In particular, v2.3.7 contains:

- important improvements to the objective function gradient calculation, when the MIN or MAX keywords are used. This significantly improves the efficiency and robustness of solution for optimisation, parameter estimation and experiment design APM activities.

- enhancements to the general robustness of parameter estimation calculations during model validation and experiment design.

Both of these enhancements are driven by the increasing use of gPROMS for Model-Based Innovation activities.

For Multiflash licensees, v2.3.7 comes packaged with Multiflash 3.4.29. For the first time, the Multiflash front-end is now packaged with gPROMS, and installs from the gPROMS download (Windows platform only). This is in line with PSE's general drive to provide users with more tightly-integrated physical property facilities.

gPROMS v2.3.7 is now available for download from the support area of the website.

July

20/07/2005 – PSE opens Japan office [press release]

We are pleased to announce the opening of the new PSE Japan office in Yokohama. The office is aimed at serving the company's important and growing Japanese market, which already accounts for nearly 20% of worldwide sales of gPROMS and ModelEnterprise software and related services. Image of new PSE Japan office

The new operation, based in the British Industry Centre, will provide Japanese language sales and technical support services to Japanese customers. It will also be responsible for organising training course, seminars and user meetings in Japan. The Yokohama operation will be fully backed up by the PSE technical, sales and development teams in London, with regular visits from key UK personnel.

PSE Managing Director Professor Costas Pantelides, says "Japan has always been a very important market for us. While we have managed to build close relationships with our major customers from a distance, it is now time for us to show our commitment to the Japanese market with strong local operation." He added that PSE expects the operation to grow significantly over time.

At the same time we welcome Shigeru Kashiwaya, who joined PSE from Toyo Engineering as Senior Consultant. Kashiwaya-san will be responsible for providing first-line Japanese language technical and project support to Japanese customers. His experience, which includes many years in design and commissioning of natural gas, refinery and petrochemical plants, covers process and instrumentation design, dynamic process modelling and optimisation.

Kashiwaya-san will be assisted by Dr Takeshi Ishikawa, PSE Senior Strategic Consultant responsible for development of PSE's business in Japan. Dr Ishikawa, who has been closely associated with PSE from its inception, has significant experience in the world of process modelling. Following many years' experience in with ISI-Dentsu in business and technical development of process simulation and modelling software, he was responsible for building an advanced modelling capability within Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation in support of design and operations throughout the company.

PSE's existing Japanese customers include major chemical and other process-related industry corporations such as Mitsubishi Chemical, Maruzen Petrochemical and industrial gas company Taiyo Nippon Sanso, and fuel cell manufacturers such as Toshiba Fuel Cells. In addition, Japanese government research organisations such as AIST and universities such as the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, Nara Institute of Science and Technology and Nagoya Institute of Technology use gPROMS' Advanced Process Modelling capabilities in support of research activities.

PSE Japan can be contacted by telephone at: +81(0)45 348 6330 or email at info-jp@psenterprise.com. For further contact information click [here].

13/07/2005 – gPROMS 2.3.6 release

PSE is pleased to announce the release of gPROMS v2.3.6 which incorporates several enhancements including full support for Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2. This release is now available to download from our website [more].

June

01/06/2005 – New PSE Americas sales and support office [press release]

We are pleased to announce the opening of our new PSE Americas consulting, sales and marketing office in Morristown, New Jersey. The office is aimed at serving PSE's growing North American market, which is responsible for over a third of worldwide sales of gPROMS and ModelEnterprise software and related services.

The new sales and consulting operations are led by Chris Hubbard and Stephen Sanders respectively. Steve's 30 years in simulation, modeling and software development includes 18 years at OLI Systems, where he was responsible for development and application of simulation tools for a wide range chemical and biochemical processes. Since joining PSE in 2003, he has been responsible for PSE's US technical support and project services, as well as technology leadership for development of PSE's biotreatment and biotechnology capabilities.

Chris, who joined PSE in March this year, has 15 years' experience in the pharmaceutical, chemical, and wastewater industries. Top-level sales and engineering positions at equipment manufacturing companies such as Glatt, Westfalia Separator, and Wedeco, and experience in delivering world-class water treatment solutions at Novazone have given him considerable experience of working with clients to deliver tailored solutions.

PSE's existing North American customers include major players in the US chemicals, consumer products and fuel cell technology sectors, as well as automation companies such as Honeywell and ABB.

PSE CEO/Managing Director Professor Costas Pantelides, says "The US alone comprises some 35% of our worldwide market for software and related services. While we have managed to build close relationships with our major customers from a distance, the new operation recognizes the growing need for us to provide strong local sales and support. PSE customers will benefit from the closer links and more frequent contact, which means that we will be able to address their specific needs more effectively".

The opening of the Morristown office is part of a concerted effort to establish a strong PSE presence in all our major markets. There will be more announcements in the near future.

Click here for full contact details for PSE Americas [press release].

May

04/05/2005 – New dedicated PSE Academic operation [press release]

We are pleased to announce the formation of PSE Academic, a division devoted to serving PSE’s large academic customer base and furthering the use of the gPROMS modelling software in academic institutions around the world.

This development reflects the need to cater for the increasing number of academic institutions using gPROMS as a key tool for research and teaching.

The new operation will have skilled personnel entirely dedicated to the academic business. They will be able to provide an enhanced response to academic customers’ requirements, from support and implementation issues through to questions on modelling techniques. In addition, the operation will allow PSE develop and maintain a higher profile in the academic world in future, with activities such as seminars, workshops and training courses to be held at universities and research institutions and academic conferences.

The PSE Academic operation will be based in a dedicated office in Thessaloniki, Greece, under the management of Dr Michael Georgiadis and with Prof. Stratos Pistikopoulos as Executive Consultant. Dr Apostolos Giovanoglou, Academic Consultant, will be responsible for day-to-day technical support and customer liaison. See our About PSE Academic for further information.

Stratos, who is Director of the Centre or Process Systems Engineering at Imperial College London and a founder of PSE, says “Because of our academic roots, PSE has a long history of involvement with academic institutions and research organisations around the world. We believe that this is a very positive development in our continuing relationships with these organisations, and look forward to working with them much more closely in the future.”

The development is also likely to benefit PSE’s industrial customers, many of whom have strong links with universities. They will see an increased availability of advanced models in the new technology areas where gPROMS is typically deployed in academic institutions.

PSE Academic can be contacted by telephone at: +30-2310-489108 or at PSE_Academic@psenterprise.com.

Further information on PSE’s academic licensing programme is available at www.psenterprise.com/academic.

March

23/03/2005 – PSE launches ModelEnterprise v2.3

PSE has launched version 2.3 of its enterprise optimisation technology ModelEnterprise. This new version focuses on simplifying the user’s modelling environment whilst improving the core optimisation capabilities.

Version 2.3 has now enhanced editing facilities via several new easy-to-use interfaces allowing more efficient and effective handling of model build and model data.

At the same time, it allows the user to interact with generated results and to modify them, for example, in order to take account of additional operational constraints that were not included in the original model.

With this version, ModelEnterprise moves a considerable number of steps towards the vision of optimisation-based applications and solutions across the enterprise.

For further information, please email Syed Shah, PSE Head of Sales.